The invention relates to the field of diagnostic fluid or vapor measurement and more particularly to a sleeve for conditioning a medical or industrial diagnostic chemical sensing instrument prior to use of the instrument.
Chemical sensing devices are commonly known for detecting the presence of certain vapors, such as carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide, in either an industrial or home environment. Likewise, further applications of chemical sensing technology are found in the food processing industry.
To date, there are very few known chemical sensing devices which are utilized for medical applications or purposes. In addition most known devices of this type, regardless of the field of use, require a housing which retains at least one chemical sensor. These devices further include means, such as a pump or other similar device, for inputting a portion of the atmosphere of an intended target area into the housing for evaluation by the chemical sensor(s). Such devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,102 to Leong which determines the authenticity of a bank note, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,070 to Gelperin in which an array of gas sensors are disposed in an interior testing chamber. The gas sensors of the array can detect the levels of specified gases in a gas mixture and then produce a sensor pattern which can subsequently be analyzed.
Among the problems encountered in using known electronic sensors, such as polymer gas sensors, as described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,401 to Lewis et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,497 to Persaud et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,601 to Persaud et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,229 to Lewis, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,308, to Lewis, among others, are those relating to stability. Utilizing these sensors in a medical environment; for example, to identify specific vapors indicative of a disease process by exposing the sensors to the interior of the mouth of a patient, could require that the sensors will be subjected to exposure of large changes in both temperature and humidity, as compared to those present in an ambient environment. Therefore and with present sensor technology, substantial and undesirable equalization time periods would be required.
A primary object of the present invention is to overcome the above noted deficiencies of the prior art.
Another primary object of the present invention is to provide a diagnostic testing or detecting device which can be environmentally calibrated prior to insertion into a target atmosphere in order to suitably and efficiently acclimate the device.
Therefore and according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is described a conditioning apparatus for a diagnostic instrument, said instrument comprising a support having at least one chemical sensing element capable of detecting at least one chemical component of a fluid and producing an electrical signal when said at least one chemical component is detected, said conditioning apparatus including:
a sleeve sized for enclosing at least a portion of said support including said at least one chemical sensing element; and
means for producing environmental conditions within said sleeve which approximate those of an intended target to be used by said diagnostic instrument.
Preferably, the sleeve includes at least one heating element which selectively heats or cools the interior of the sleeve to a predetermined temperature and/or a humidification chamber to pre-expose the chemical sensing element(s) to an environment approximately equivalent to that of the target atmosphere, such as the interior of the mouth or other suitable medical or industrial target.
According to another preferred aspect of the invention, a method is described for conditioning a diagnostic instrument, the instrument comprising a support for supporting at least one chemical sensing element capable of detecting at least one chemical component of a fluid, said method comprising the steps of:
placing a portion of said support including said at least one chemical sensing element into the interior of a sleeve;
conditioning said at least one chemical sensing element by providing an environment within the interior of said sleeve approximating that of a target;
removing said support from said sleeve; and
immediately positioning said support including said at least one chemical sensing element at the target.
Preferably, the target can be a medical and/or an industrial target.
An advantage of the present invention is that the environmental conditions of a target atmosphere can be applied to a chemical sensing element array prior to insertion therein, increasing the efficiency and also improving the reliability of the device.
A further advantage of the present invention is that a conditioning sleeve as described by the present invention can easily be attached and removed from a diagnostic sensing device which includes at least one chemical sensing element capable of detecting at least one chemical component of a fluid or fluids.
These and other objects, features, and advantages will be readily apparent form the following Detailed Description which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.